Author: asnsadmin

Ketchup, mustard and relish are classic toppings for any hot dog. But around the nation, different regions have come up with their own spin on the classic reinventing the cultural identity of the typical hot dog.

The toppings change depending on where the wiener is from.

Down in the southwest comes the Sonoran Hot Dog.  It is different from the rest with a few important ingredients. It is widely known throughout Tucson.

The Sonoran Hot Dog starts with a hot dog wrapped in bacon that is placed inside a special bun. This bun is different from your typical hot dog bun in that it is closed on the sides ensuring none of your toppings will fall out.

The hot dog is then topped with pinto beans, onions, tomatoes, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and of course, the signature roasted green chili on the side.

Some people live their lives without going outside of the country. Some spend their whole lives living in the same city up to adulthood.

The experience of living abroad is an educational experience. Leaving your home and parents behind and going to a four-year college is something that is hard for young freshman students, however, add in being a student exchange program for six months and it is a whole other story.

“To go abroad is a very, very good experience,” said Nisrine Louh, a junior student exchange student at the University of Arizona.

Louh attends the Institut Polytechnique des Sciences Advances school in Paris and plans to be an engineer after she graduates.

IPSA requires that every student participate in a student exchange program in their third year of college. For Louh, she had different options of where she could spend six months of her third year such as Taiwan, China, the Czech Republic and of course, Arizona.

[caption id="attachment_214" align="alignright" width="480"]Image courtesy of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum[/caption]Arizona is using old and new techniques to eliminate one of its oldest and largest environmental threats: buffelgrass. Without the resources necessary to get rid of it completely, the dangerous grass will continue to spread rapidly throughout the state.

For decades, the plant has been destroying native species, while presenting a major fire hazard. As the grass continues to grow at an exponential rate, it needs to be controlled before it is too late, said Lindy Bringham, director of the nonprofit organization, Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordination Center.

“It’s critical at this point that we really get a handle on it now, “ she said. “If we can get people to work on it now they can get it to a manageable state.”

According to Bringham, the state is doing what it can to control the grass, but due to limited funding, cannot eliminate it without help.

Arizona has spent $174 million in bond funds, since 2010, to purchase desert land. One of the reasons the state bought the land was to preserve the ecosystem by removing the intruding buffelgrass.

Although it is difficult to determine exactly how many acres these weeds infect, officials are hopeful that new technology will stop further growth, even with a tight budget. Doug Siegel, a natural resource specialist for Pima County, has been working with the U.S. Forest Service to develop easier and cheaper ways to eliminate the grass.

“We’re trying to see what we can do with our current budgets,” he said.

Siegel has been working on a hands-free way to get rid of these invasive plants. A helicopter would be used to drop the devices in “strategic spots” around the state. The remote control-activated machine would spray about ten acres of land with herbicide. This could help eliminate buffelgrass in areas that would normally be difficult to reach.

Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut are just a couple famous names in the world of competitive eating. Both have set records and have won Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Competition.

But how did competitive eating really start? Although it’s still unknown, gorging events were highly popularized by carnival pie eating contests.

Today these contests are taken to the extreme in seeing how much food the contestants can scarf down in a manner of minutes. Even condiments are becoming part of the sport. Butter and mayonnaise have been featured in some competitions.